


Family

by CoolDoggo



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Adoption, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Family Fluff, Gen, M/M, Orphan Keith (Voltron), Parent-Child Relationship, Polyamory, Raising a Child, parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-04
Updated: 2018-09-04
Packaged: 2019-07-06 19:33:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15892674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CoolDoggo/pseuds/CoolDoggo
Summary: “Dad? What about your family? What are they like?"It was an innocent question his daughter had asked, but Keith was woefully unprepared. Nothing could have prepared him to deal with what he tried so hard to ignore.Luckily, Lance and Shiro are there to pick up the pieces.





	Family

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AllieChick](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllieChick/gifts).



> Eeee my first Voltron fic. SKL is so good and I love them so much. ;_; Truly they are all made for each other....brings a tear to my eye. I hope to write much more about them in the future. 
> 
> Dedicated to one of my closest and dearest friends. \o/ Thank you so much for being here for me over the years, and I'm so glad we got to meet over a shared love of parenting and child raising fic. Thank you so much for listening to all of my inane rambling and ranting over the years. I hope this fic brings you a fraction of joy that you and all of your wonderful fic have brought me over the years we've gotten to know each other. <3

Since adopting their daughter, Nora, Keith had come a long way in learning how to be a parent. Shiro and Lance could tell it was important to him, to give his daughter the kind of parental love his life was sorely devoid of, but it certainly didn’t come naturally to him. Luckily, Lance was a natural family guy, and was more than glad to teach Keith how to function around small children. Keith was cold and aloof around his many little cousins and his little siblings, but seeing Keith learn how to be warm and affectionate around their daughter, it always brought a proud tear to Lance’s eye. 

Still, despite how far he’s come, some things he could never truly prepare for. 

It was the holiday season, and Keith was helping Nora make greeting cards for Shiro and Lance’s families. He didn’t look the type, but Keith was actually quite creative, and arts and crafts quickly became a special bonding activity between the two. The few times Lance had tried to join in, Keith had chased him away, claiming he was utterly incompetent, and Shiro had the artistic prowess of a wet paper bag so he stayed far away. 

Still, maybe it was better that way. They both really enjoyed watching their husband’s eyes light up at the thought of meticulously placing stickers, gluing glitter, and drawing silly holiday doodles for hours with his daughter. 

Shiro had made a comment to Lance once that it almost seemed therapeutic for him. Holidays had always been a point of contempt for Keith, and spending quality time with Lance and Shiro’s families always felt like rubbing salt in his wounds, especially since he had trouble truly viewing them as family despite the fact their families long considered him family. The days following the celebrations always made for a very sullen and irritable Keith who would lock himself in their spare bedroom and mope for days on end. 

Ever since Nora came into their lives, holidays seemed a little brighter for him. 

“Daddy has a really big family!” Nora exclaims suddenly. They had been at this for hours, and they were barely half way through with Lance’s family. 

“He does,” Keith replies as he puts the finishing touches on a card for one of Lance’s many cousins. “Are you getting tired? Need a snack break?” 

Nora shakes her head. “No! I want to keep making cards!” 

Neither of them say much to each other as they continue making cards, but both of them seemed to accept that they didn’t have the most verbal relationship. Still, it doesn’t stop Nora from blurting out, “Why doesn’t Papa have a big family like Daddy does?” a few minutes later. 

Keith simply shrugs. “Everyone has different families. They all don’t look the same.” 

“What about your family? What are they like? I wanna meet your family too! How come we never make cards for them?” 

For the first time, Nora was asking questions about his family, and nothing could have prepared Keith to answer any of them. His throat suddenly felt tight, and he could feel the tension creep up in the back of his neck. 

After what seems like forever, he manages to choke out, “I don’t have a family.” 

Nora blinks at him, confused. Surely he had to have a family? She didn’t always have one, but she had one now! Her ten year old brain is in overdrive. People had families unless something happened to them! What happened to Dad’s family? “What happened to them?”

Keith feels his skin crawl. He swallows, and focuses very hard on breathing. Nora doesn’t know. She didn’t need to know.  Still, perhaps it was only right she have some semblance of a clue. The three of them couldn’t keep it a secret from her forever, right? 

He takes a deep breath. Okay, he could do this. All he had to do was tell her he was an orphan who grew up in foster care. He never got adopted. No one wanted him. Easy peasy. 

Unfortunately, he’s always been garbage at choosing his words, especially when he’s feeling a bit too emotional, and it shows now more than ever. 

“They left me. I don’t know what happened. My mother...she...I don’t know why-” Keith can feel the tears forming in his eyes.  Oh hell no, he’s not about to break down in front of his kid. He’s better than this. He violently rubs tears out of his eye before muttering, “I told myself I’m done crying over this…!” 

Oh lord, he can’t keep it together, so he does the only thing he can think of doing. He bolts, leaving behind a very confused and upset child. 

Luckily, Lance walks into the kitchen a few minutes later needing a glass of water. He sees Nora sitting at the table alone, and no sign of Keith. 

“Hey kiddo,” he says, “Where’s Dad?” 

Nora immediately turns around to look at him, clearly anxious and distraught. “I don’t know.” She blubbers, “I think I made him mad.” 

Lance immediately looks at his daughter in sympathy. This was an ongoing issue they had, she always felt she made her Dad mad. It was something he definitely could relate to. While he and Keith were far past that stage of their relationship, it was something that took quite a bit of effort to overcome.  

“Oh sweetie, I’m sure you didn’t. Wanna tell me what happened?” 

Nora looks nervous, like she said something bad and now she was in trouble. 

He immediately senses the unease in his child’s disposition, so Lance takes a seat next to her and assures her that no matter what happened, she absolutely was not in trouble. 

“I asked Dad why we never visit his family and why we always make cards for you and Papa’s family but never his.” 

Oh dear. So that’s what this was about. The three of them knew they would have to have this conversation eventually, but Keith kept insisting on putting it off and off, clearly not wanting to deal with it. Well, now they had no choice but to deal with it and the circumstance was less than ideal. 

“Hey,” Lance says softly, “Can you sit tight here for a minute? I need to go get Papa. Don’t worry, you’re not in trouble and things will be okay.” 

She nods and mumbles, “Okay…” 

Lance finds Shiro in their study, and he immediately says, “Hey, Shiro. We’ve got a bit of a problem.” 

Shiro gives Lance a look, encourages him to go on.

“Nora asked Keith about his family, and well, you know how he gets and now Nora thinks he’s upset with her. I’m gonna go talk to her and explain things the best I can, but I’m worried about Keith. You’ve always been better than me at helping him when he gets like this, can you go make sure he’s okay? I’ll handle talking to Nora.” 

Lance’s natural ability with kids is nothing but relief to Shiro. He really has no idea how to deal with this topic in a kid friendly way, but he has faith in Lance to know how to do so, or will at least figure out how to do so. He feels bad, but he and Keith always dump the responsibility of serious discussions about the more unfortunate parts of life onto Lance. Really, he’s the only one with any sort of experience to handle them.

“Sounds good. I’m gonna go see where Keith is hiding.” 

Nora hasn’t moved an inch by the time Lance gets back to the kitchen. He’s assured her that she’s not in trouble, but he has a feeling she doesn’t believe him. She’s just sitting there, nervously playing with her hands. She hears Lance sit down next to her, and she immediately looks at him with worried eyes.

“Is Dad okay? He was really upset.” 

“Dad will be fine. Papa’s gonna go take care of him.”

“What did I do wrong?” She whispers. 

Lance wraps her in a loose hug. “Oh sweetheart, you didn’t do anything wrong. You just asked a question you were curious about. You want to know about Dad’s family, right?”

She gives a tentative nod, feeling as if she’s entered some forbidden, taboo territory. 

“Remember how when we adopted you, we told you that not all families look the same? Like how my family is a lot of cousins and aunts and uncles and siblings, and how Papa’s family is his grandma, his mom and dad, and his brother? Well, Dad’s family is made up of two loving husbands, and a daughter he loves and cares for very much.” 

Nora looks at Lance curiously, blinking a few times before she realizes that Lance is talking about their family. 

“Does he have a mom and dad? Or a brother or a sister?” 

Lance simply shakes his head. “Nah. Just us.” He goes quiet for a moment, wondering just how much information is appropriate for a child before he quickly adds on, “Dad never knew his family, and he feels really sad about that so he doesn’t like to talk about it.” 

A look of curiosity appears on Nora’s face before she quietly says, “But don’t people without families get adopted? I didn’t have a family, but I have one now!” Surely her Dad had a family out there who loved him!

A wash of sadness pains Lance’s face. It wasn’t even his story, wasn’t something he ever had to go through, but the pain in Keith’s voice, the wounds he tried his best to hide whenever he opened up about his childhood of being shuffled from foster home to foster home, some more...questionable than others to put it politely, was almost too much for Lance to bear. 

He stays quiet for a moment, trying to figure out what to say. Finally, he settles on saying, “Sometimes people who don’t have families don’t get adopted. Not because they’re bad people or don’t deserve it, but sometimes…” He pauses for a moment, and he remembers Keith’s stories about always being moved around, about how he never quite fit in, about how his constant acting out made him a poor match for most families. Lance sighs to himself, his heart weighing heavy. Keith deserved to have a stable, constant family growing up. All children do. “Sometimes the right family never finds them, and it’s not their fault at all. There’s a lot of kids out there who need families, and there’s not enough families looking.”

Nora’s quiet, Lance’s words weighing heavy on her mind. She remembers the growing fear that  no one wanted her, that she’d never have a family, but every day she hoped and hoped, and she never truly lost sight of the belief that someone out there would want her. But her dad...her poor dad. Hearing this reaffirms her early fears of  _ What if no one wants me? What if I never get a family? _ She had convinced herself that was nonsense, that surely everyone got chosen in the end. While her life wasn’t bad, she yearned for something more, and her yearning and hoping paid off, because she got what she wanted in the end. The fact her dad must have lived with that loneliness his entire life, it makes her heart break. 

She looks at Lance, her question weighing heavy on her tongue. She wants to know, needs to know, but is scared of the answer she’ll get. “Did Dad ever find a family…?” 

The soft smile on her papa’s lips gives her reassurance. “He did, and they all love him very much.” Lance replies, “He found me and Daddy, and later on, we found you. He’s bad at showing it, but he loves them too. He loves them all a lot, more than anything in the world.” 

It’s not quite the answer Nora had hoped to hear, she had hoped her Dad had found parents of his own, parents who love him the way her fathers love her. But hearing that in the end her dad did find a family, even if it’s a little different than what she had hoped he found, it makes her happy. They were his family, they all had each other. In that end, that’s all that mattered.

“I’m happy he has us now.” Really, she is, and she’s glad she has him. Out of all her parents, her relationship with Keith felt the most awkward, but suddenly, she feels like she understands him just a tiny bit better. Secretly, as much as her heart aches for him, she’s glad someone in her family just...gets it, even if it’s something they’ve never talked about before. 

Lance can tell his daughter is thinking something. “Hey, what’s on your mind?” 

“I want to give Dad a hug...do you think he’d be up for a hug?” 

Out of all them, Keith was the most temperamental with physical affection, especially when he was upset. Lance always welcomed affection, and Shiro usually enjoyed it, providing he was expecting it, but Keith? He was a lot more finicky. Sometimes he just wanted to be held for hours and hold onto you for hours, but more often than not he wanted to be left alone since he easily got overwhelmed. Asking permission before a hug became a thing they quickly drilled into Nora’s head. Hell, Shiro had done his job to drill that same train of thought into Lance’s head when they first all started dating.

You just...don’t walk up to Keith and hug him. You just don’t. Luckily, their daughter understood the concept at a much, much faster rate than Lance seemed to understand early on.

“Hmmm...I don’t know. But we can go ask him. Even if he doesn’t want a hug, I think he’ll really appreciate the thought.”

That seemed to make Nora happy enough, and she immediately started making her way toward her parent’s bedroom. 

Meanwhile, while Lance was talking to Nora, Shiro had his own work cut out for him with Keith. He checked their spare bedroom first, Keith’s usual hiding hole when he was overwhelmed and upset, and it was empty. A good sign, because essentially their spare bedroom was reserved for  _ I don’t want to see anyone. Leave me the hell alone. _ When it was occupied, it was 100% off limits. That was their agreement, their way of preventing the worst of fights. So he makes his way over to their bedroom. As expected, the door is closed. He knocks once, no response. 

“Keith?” Shiro says. He keeps his voice low, but loud enough to be heard through the door. Again, no response. Shiro eventually decides inviting himself in is the only option. He sighs to himself and slowly opens the door. The lights are off, and Keith is huddled up at the corner of their bed, knees held up to his chest and arms wrapped tight around his body. It was something he often did when he was overwhelmed and distraught, an act of self-soothing Shiro assumes he picked up as a child and never quite grew out of. Both he and Lance had seen it quite some time over their years together, and slowly they had begun to piece together what Keith needed in times like these. 

“Keith, sweetie, Lance told me about what happened. Are you okay?” It’s a dumb question, he knows the answer, of course Keith isn’t okay, but he asks out of pure habit. He sits down on the bed next to a curled up Keith, careful not to disturb him or make him feel cornered. He had a tendency to be a bit skittish when he was upset, and despite the fact his nervous energy calmed down a lot over the years, it was still something Shiro tried his best to respect. 

Keith simply makes a noise in response. It’s better than nothing, Shiro supposes, and he opens himself up to let Keith crawl and cling onto him if he chooses. 

“Wanna talk about it?” It’s a small gesture, but Shiro begins running his fingers through Keith’s hair. Neither of them say anything, but he can tell Keith’s beginning to relax. If Keith wants to talk or cry about it, he’ll be glad to listen, but if prefers to find solace in the silence, that’s fine too. All that matters is that he knows he’s loved and he doesn’t have to shoulder this alone anymore. 

It’s not long before Keith crawls into Shiro’s lap, throwing his arms around Shiro and hiding his face in the crook of his shoulder. 

“God, I feel so stupid. It’s been how many years? And yet, I still manage to fall apart every time I have to think about it. It’s so stupid. I can’t even talk to my own kid about it.” Keith mumbles miserably. “She probably thinks I’m mad at her again. Is she upset? I feel awful. She asked a question and I got all upset and ran off without telling her anything.” 

Shiro can tell the guilt is weighing heavily on Keith. He just sits there, quiet and holding Keith tight, gently running his fingers through his hair. Over the years, they’ve said everything that needs to be said on the subject, talked about it so much that simple reassurances becomes annoying and tired, like a broken record tape. It’s been the same old song and dance for years, and Shiro suspects it will continue to be so for the years to come. While he and Lance don’t mind repeating what needs to be said, Keith’s tired of hearing it, so he just holds Keith and lets his affection be his words. For Keith, it’s always been  _ me against the world _ , isolation and loneliness carved into his heart. Right now, all he needs is the gentle assurance he has people he can depend on. 

“Don’t worry, Lance is talking to her.” He says. Already Shiro knows Keith is going to berate himself.  _ It should be me, I should be telling her _ , he’s thinking, and Shiro decides to nip that in the bud entirely. “Let Lance deal with this part. Later, you and Nora can have a heart to heart if you guys want. You probably understand her feelings better than anyone, and she probably understands yours better than me or Lance can.” 

Keith simply grunts in acknowledgement, a sign he’s done talking and done being spoken to before huddling closer to his husband. It’s fine, they don’t need to say anything else to each other. As much as Keith appreciates that Lance tries to be here for him, he’s glad it’s Shiro who came and took care of him. Lance talks too much, doesn’t let his actions speak for him, and certainly doesn’t appreciate the comfort and catharsis of silence. He makes a mental note to thank his other husband later for dealing with the mess he made and left him to clean up, however. 

Being held tight in Shiro’s arms as he clings soothes the aching wounds of his childhood. It’s nice, until they hear a sudden knock on the door which startles Keith to such degrees he nearly catapults himself to the floor. Luckily, Shiro’s got hold of him, and before either of them can respond, they can hear Lance’s voice booming through the door.

“Hey, it’s us. Are you guys okay in there? Can we come in? We’ll come by later if Keith needs some more time.” 

Shiro looks at Keith, waiting for any kind of response or gesture. Keith simply gives a small nod. He’s fine, he wants to see them, especially his daughter. He wants to apologize and make things right between them, and especially wants to make sure she’s okay, especially since she has always been on the more sensitive side. He’s never been good at dealing with sensitive people, but he learns and tries, just for her. 

“Yeah, we’re fine. You guys can come in,” Shiro tells them. 

The minute the door opens, Keith’s eyes nervously dart toward Nora, trying to gauge how she’s doing. She approaches him slowly, but he can tell she doesn’t seem anxious. If anything, her quietness to approach him is out of respect of his own nervousness and skittishness he tended to exhibit when upset that everyone was  _ very _ well aware of. If anything, she seems confident and comfortable in whatever action she’s about to take. He’s glad. Whatever conversation Lance had with her, it worked. Lance might suck at comforting him, but he was magic around children, and Keith was glad for that. At least someone was there to make up for him and Shiro’s deficient in being able to soothe an upset child. 

Nora opens her mouth to speak, and Keith already knows she’s about to apologize for something she shouldn’t be apologizing over. Immediately, he cuts her off. 

“Nora, don’t apologize. I…” Apologizing, dealing with any sort of emotional response, it’s never been easy for Keith, and he still freezes up despite knowing exactly what he wants and needs to say, “I’m the one who needs to apologize. You asked a question, and I just got upset and ran off without telling you anything. I know I probably really upset and scared you, and that’s the last thing I want to do. I love you, I really do. You’re so important to me and I want to be there for you and answer any questions you have. I want to be someone you can come to for anything. It’s just that…”

Lance and Keith know this speech pattern. Keith talks too fast, trips over his words, and rambles when he’s nervous, when he’s being more honest and vulnerable than he enjoys being. They can tell by the way his speech pauses that he’s trying his best to stay composed, to stay strong. Shiro gently holds him closer, subtle enough that only Keith would catch onto it. It’s encouragement, a sign of faith that he’s got this, he’s doing fine. They’ve all got each other and no one has to deal with any of this or anything else in the world alone. 

“It’s hard for me to talk about it, my family I mean, or well, my lack of I guess since I’m sure Papa told you everything. It still really hurts when I think about it, and I’m sorry I couldn’t have that conversation with you. I promise you, one day we’ll talk. We’ll talk about everything, but right now, I can’t. Just know that I love you and I’m not mad, okay?” 

Nora’s quiet, but she takes in his words. She doesn’t respond at first, but soon enough she hoists herself onto their bed, next to him and Shiro. She scoots close to her dads, close enough she’s brushed up against Shiro’s hip. 

“Hey, Dad?” She begins to say, “Can I give you a hug?” 

Immediately, the tension Keith’s been storing in his shoulders the entire conversation melt away at the question. He lets go of Shiro for the first time since he’s come to comfort him, and immediately pulls his daughter into his and Shiro’s laps. Keith holds her tight, like he never wants to let go of her, and she returns the hug with equal enthusiasm. 

Lance and Shiro look at each other, obviously feeling a bit left out. It’s not long before Lance’s will breaks, and he bounces over and wraps his arms around the both of them. Screw asking permission. This is a special occasion! Keith isn’t shooing Lance away, and that’s the only sign that Shiro needs before he joins in. 

They sit there like that, on the bed all soaking each other’s love and affection for each other. Who knows the next time that’ll happen, if it’ll ever happen again. But for now, they all enjoy it. 

Suddenly, Nora speaks up. “Hey Dad? I’m glad you found your family. I’m glad you found Daddy and Papa.” 

For the first time since the whole mess started, Keith smiles, genuinely smiles. “And I’m glad we found you. You’re my family too, just like we’re your family, okay? We all have each other, got it?” 

Nora simply nods, and huddles closer to her parents. 

They all found and had each other, and at the end of the day, that was all that mattered. They were family, and that was all the four of them could ever hoped and asked for. 

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi to me! 
> 
> Commenting is appreciated, but 100% optional. Please know that if you comment, I 100% appreciate and have read it and am probably holding it close to my heart. I just get really shy and nervous about replying! <3


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